1. Field
This invention relates to incline support systems. More specifically, the invention is directed to support systems adapted for use with exercise equipment such as treadmills.
2. Statement of the Art
The functionality of many types of exercising equipment is enhanced by modifying the orientation of that equipment relative to an underlying support surface. In many instances, this capability to reorient the equipment permits the user to adjust and oftentimes increase the level of difficulty of exercises performed using the equipment. This capability becomes important when one recognizes that training, utilizing such equipment, is directed toward increasing the user's physical abilities. As those abilities are augmented, it is desirable that the user may periodically adjust the level of difficulty of the equipment to provide a device conducive to challenging the user's physical abilities and thereby contributing to an enhancement of those abilities.
The difficulties in rendering exercise equipment incline adjustable results in part from the weight of such equipment. Due to the stress which such equipment must endure in use, oftentimes such equipment is fabricated from various types of metals, which cause the equipment to be generally heavy. Adjusting the incline of the equipment may be difficult if the user must lift the equipment to the desired height and then manipulate a retaining device which is operable to retain the equipment at the desired height. As a result, some exercise equipment requires two or more individuals to adjust the incline thereof, i.e. one individual holding the equipment in place while the second actuates the retaining device.
A conventional incline system is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,071 (Davis). FIG. 6 of that disclosure illustrates an adjustable incline system which includes an inverted "T"-shaped support leg having a plurality of open-ended channels defined in the shaft region thereof. The support leg is received within a socket. The socket sidewall defines a pair of oppositely positioned holes which are positioned to register one with another. A pin is inserted through the socket hole and thereafter through one of the support leg channels. The pin subsequently is received in the opposing socket sidewall hole whereby the support leg is detachably retained in the apparatus mounted socket. The incline of the apparatus may be altered by slidingly removing the pin and adjusting the support leg to align another channel in registration with the socket holes. Thereafter, the pin is reinserted to retain the support leg in the desired orientation. Recognizably, the apparatus must be lifted in order to facilitate any adjustment to its incline.
A second embodiment of an incline system is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,587 (Ogden) wherein a pair of upright threaded support legs are mounted spacedly apart from one another on the end of a treadmill. The bottom end of each support is rotatably mounted by a ball joint to a footing which rests on the underlying support surface, e.g. the ground. A female threaded socket is mounted on each support, each socket being fixedly mounted to the apparatus to be inclined. One of the supports includes a hand crank mounted thereon. The crankable support is mechanically connected to the non-cranked support by a chain which is trained about sprockets mounted on each of the two supports. A cranked rotation of the first support effects a corresponding rotation of the second support. The sockets are displaced upwards or downwards, depending on the direction of rotation of the supports. The apparatus, being mounted to the sockets, is displaced by the sockets.
The Ogden construction involves a considerable amount of structure to effect the lifting or incline function.
A continued need exists for an inclined system which is at once simple in construction yet operative to yield a desired equipment incline with a minimum of energy.